Hogwarts: The Truth
by geekchick1804
Summary: Yet another Hogwarts reads the books type of story, Snarry. Set in Harry's fifth year. Umbridge Bashing.
1. Chapter 1

Hogwarts: The Truth

A/N: I know this type of story has been done a thousand times before but I am determined to finish mine and to go through all seven books. If it's in bold I dont own it (which sucks).

Chapter 1

Delores Umbridge was a woman (toad) on a mission, she had finally found a way to finally shut that brat up and show the minister off in a good light. She had been searching for a way show Potter was lying and had come across seven books in her office she had never seen before and a small note telling her that they were all to do with Harry Potter. In her excitement to tell the minister and to arrange a public reading, Delores Umbridge made the biggest of her life by not reading them before hand.

* * *

"ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY."

Harry Potter was sat in the Griffindor common room playing wizarding chess with his two best (and first-ever) friends; Ron Weasley (a tall red-headed boy) and Hermione Granger (a bushy-haired young woman) as it was only a week until the Christmas break (well Harry and Ron were playing, Hermione was reading as was usual), he looked at them in confusion.

"I wonder what that is about."

Ron shrugged his shoulders and the trio made their way down from the Griffindor tower to the Great Hall, on entering the hall it was obvious that more than just the students and staff of Hogwarts were present.

There was Cornelius Fudge (the Minister for Magic and total moron), Amelia Bones (a fair and just Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement), Alastor 'mad-eye' Moody (a _slightly_ paranoid ex-auror) all the adult members of the Weasley family (although Percy was standing by the Minister and Umbridge), Remus Lupin (and his _trusty_ dog Snuffles), the Tonks family, Narcissa Malfoy, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Augusta Longbottom (a formidable looking woman), Xenophilius Lovegood and Harry's _favourite_ person; Rita Skeeta.

Harry looked at his two best friends. "Well this doesn't look good."

The trio made their way to their seats and sat down, all the students looked as confused as the trio did, whereas the adults looked extremely unhappy (and by happy I mean pissed off).

"Hem Hem." Everyone in the room turned to look at the odious little toad who had brought them all together. "If everyone will please take a seat and I will explain what is happening."

The adults took their seats; the Weasley family (apart from Percy) came and sat down at the Griffindor table to be with the two youngest members of the family as well as the two honorary members (Harry and Hermione), as did Lupin and Mrs Longbottom. Narcissa Malfoy sat down by her son at the Slytherin table as did Rita Skeeta and Moody. The Tonks family and Madam Bones took a seat at the Hufflepuff table and Mr Lovegood and Shacklebolt took their seats at the Ravenclaw table whilst Percy conjured up a separate table for himself, the Minister and Umbridge. The teachers sat in their normal places.

"Hem Hem, we are here because of the lies of one Harry James Potter." Harry looked at her furious. "These books..." Here she levitated the seven books onto her table. "will prove what a nasty little liar he is. I have a note that I will read out:

_Dear Madam Umbridge,_

_I like you do not believe that Harry Potter is telling the truth and I have found a way to prove it; these seven books chronicle Harry's seven years at Hogwarts, yes I am aware that he has only been at Hogwarts for five and a half years but I am from the future and have access to the last two years of his education. Harry's lies caused a great deal of problems in the future and he must be stopped._

_It would be best to read these factual accounts in front of as many people possible for the most amount of humiliation. You will even find out the location of Sirius Black the mass murderer in the third book (unfortunately to send back the books in time I had to place a charm on them meaning that they have to be read in the correct order; The Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkabhan, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows)._

_Once the books are opened, time will stop in the building (after all we wouldn't want to waste real time on Potter now would we?) and it will not start again until the last page of the last book has been read._

_Good luck,_

_HJW + RBW_

_P.S. I have cast a protection spell over the books that means no one can tamper with the books and only the truth will be read (we all know that there are unsavoury people and we wouldn't want them to be able to twist the truth)._

There was silence throughout the hall, Harry couldn't believe that they were going to read about his life _I hope they don't find out about the Dursley's_. Snape had looked disgruntled at the thought of hearing about Harry's pampered life although he had perked up at the sixth books title and started to wonder who the letter writer was.

"Hem Hem, I will read the first chapter and then the book will be passed around so that I do not lose my voice and no one can claim that it is unfair. Chapter one: **The Boy Who Lived**."

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

Fred and George Weasley looked at each and grinned.

"Yes they are quite normal aren't they Gred?"

"Yes Forge I think they are."

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours The Dursley's had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Harry was not looking forward to when people find out about the truth of his home life, around the room there were several pure-bloods asking what drills were. The Muggle studies professor; Charity Burbage told them to write down any items that they didn't understand and after the books were finished she would give a special lesson and go through them all, explaining what the item did and why it was invented.

**The Dursley's had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish** ("that's not even a word," came from the Ravenclaw's and Hermione)** as it was possible to be. The Dursley's shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursley's knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what?" was shouted across the room. Privately Umbridge agreed with the filthy muggle.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, **(Fred and George looked horrified)** and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"What a brat." Mrs Weasley looked shocked at the behaviour of the young boy.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

"Is that you Professor?" Hermione asked McGonagall, at McGonagall's nod the Griffindor's cheered and it took a few minutes to calm down. Umbridge was not happy.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

"What a short attention span." Yelled one of the Slytherins.

Harry yelled back "It's still short" _Thankfully._

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdo's standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. **

"What's wrong with cloaks?" Asked Malfoy.

"Muggles haven't worn cloaks for about a century, it's really outdated." Replied a fifth year Ravenclaw muggleborn.

"Oh."

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

"He actually did exercise, I'm shocked." Most people in the hall were shocked at the level of sarcasm in Harry's voice including the Potion's Master.

**to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

"Ah that's OK, the world isn't going to end."

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry" Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

Everyone realised what day it was and bowed their heads in respect.

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

Hermione knowing a bit about Harry's upbringing turned to him and asked, "Harry does he know your name know?"

Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. **

**On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Was that you Professor Flitwick"

"No I was here at Hogwarts." Flitwick said with a shake of his head.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off. Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

Fred and George almost faint in shock "No imagination?" They asked together. At Harry's nod they fell off the bench to the amusement of almost everyone in the room.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"McGonagall" The Griffindor's cried, causing the teacher in question to quirk her lips.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour?**

"Only if you are Minnie." Said one of the Weasley twins.

"What did you just call me Mr. Weasley?"

"Minnie!" Both twins cried.

McGonagall just gave them her famous glare which shut them both up very quickly. Snape smirked.

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted,"**

"Was that you dad?" Asked Nymphadora (Call me Tonks! Just Tonks!).

Ted Tonks blushed and nodded, the Hufflepuff table cheered.

**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

_Huh he's putting it altogether, I didn't think he was that intelligent_ thought Harry.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

People were outraged by that, how could you just ignore and even pretend your family.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

"What does he mean, Her crowd?"

Harry looked over at Malfoy who had asked the question. "He means wizards."

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare.**_ (Coward _was a common thought throughout the hall)** Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son -he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"It is not, Harry you were named after Lily's father."

Harry looked up at Professor McGonagall, "Really?"

At her nod Harry smiles and looks back at the table.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"What were you waiting for professor?"

"You'll see."

Groans came from the students.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursley's got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

**How very wrong he was.**

"I wish he hadn't" muttered Harry which was unfortunately heard by everyone in the room confusing most of them.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. **

"Dumbledore!" Cried half the Hall.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"Oh I did, it was not hard to tell."

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, **(actually it is called a deluiminator)** until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"All day? Why?" Asked a bewildered Ron.

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed some thing's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

The members of the Order of Phoenix all smirked at that (he hadn't changed much).

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Eleven years?" All the students were shocked, they hadn't realised it had lasted that long.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours"**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"Of course he's gone." That was Umbridge of course.

"No he's not!" Yelled Harry

"Detention you nasty little liar." Harry was furious but he knew that if these books were true

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"A what?" Asked the Purebloods.

**"A what?"**

Giggles were heard throughout the hall.

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. **

"It wasnt."

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **

Umbridge pauses unable to say the Dark Lord's name.

**Voldemort."** Said Harry and the vast majority of the hall shudders, a few even squeal. Harry and Dumbledore are the only ones to not react to his name.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying **

Again Umbridge pauses and Harry says the name and again there is the squeals and shudders, Harry just rolls his eyes.

**Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **(you guessed it, Umbridge can't bring herself to say and so Harry politely obliges)** Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort **(this time Dumbledore says it)** had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Ewwww" Was said throughout the hall and Dumbledore blushed again causing quite a few of the students to laugh. Snape and McGonagall smirked.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "**

**Dumbledore bowed his head **(As did most of the hall)**. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

Harry's head was in his hands, silent tears falling down his face. Lupin wrapped him up in his arms whilst Snuffles put his head on Harry's lap and occasionally let out a little whine and licked him.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

Everyone turned and stared at Harry who was still in Lupin's arms until Hermione shouted at them to leave him alone.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

Lupin hears Harry mumbling under his breath "Of course he knows, he's just not going to tell anyone." Lupin agrees inside his head.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

Harry lifted his head and glared at Dumbledore "It was you who left me there?"

Dumbledore nods his head, but he is still not looking at Harry and so Harry turns back into Lupin's arms.

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

**"Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"At least you tried Professor." Said Harry, looking back up and smiling at her faintly.

"I wish I had tried harder Potter." McGonagall gifts Harry with a rare smile.

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter? How the hell can you expect them to understand from a letter?" Yelled Hermione, dumbledore doesnt answer.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Looks like she was right unfortunately" Mumbled Harry, then looks back up at her slightly frightened. "There isn't a Harry Potter day is there?"

McGonagall smiled again "No Harry there is no Harry Potter day."

"Thank Merlin." Before settling back down by Lupin but no longer hiding in his arms. Snape looked at Harry shocked, _the boy doesnt mean that surely? Have I really gotten him so wrong?_

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life." Said the Golden Trio.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

Everyone laughed.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool bike." Said Seamus.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Awwwwww" All the girls (apart from Umbridge and McGonagall) cooed.

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

Harry gave Snuffles a pat.

"Um Minister Fudge?"

Fudge turned and glared at Harry. "Yes"

"I have a small question, if Sirius Black was after me and betrayed my parents to Voldemort why would he lend Hagrid hid bike?"

Amelia Bones looked over at Harry shrewedly, she had heard rumours that Sirius Black was innocent but every time she had tried to look into his case she was pulled away by the minister or one of his lackeys. She knew that something wasnt right and she hoped that these books would shed some light onto what had happened.

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Again the girls cooed.

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"Almost everyone tried to get a look at the scar again but were turned away by the D.A. And Harry's friends

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

Harry perked up.

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't.** (Harry slumped back down)** Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well- give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

As did Snuffles much to the amusement of anyone who knew who he really was.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

As they did now.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

Hermione, Ginny, and Tonks all stood up and glared at the Head master.

"You left him on the doorstep at night?" Yelled Hermione.

"It was November." Yelled Ginny.

"It was forecast to rain." Yelled Tonks, dumbledore seemed to shrink back at all the glares he was receiving from the staff and students, everyone was appalled (except Umbridge obviously, who thought that it was a good idea _Shame the little brat wasnt kidnapped_)

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"Hagrid, what happened to Sirius' bike?"

Hagrid looked over at Harry.

"It's store' in a vault at Gringotts, waitin' for 'im to collect it."

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," **

"I'm gonna need it."

**he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

End of chapter

A/N: I'll probably update every couple of weeks. Please review. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Hogwarts: The Truth

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I decided to do another chapter as so many asked for more, I hope you enjoy.

"Who will read next?" Asked Umbridge in a simpering voice.

"I will." Said Dumbledore.

**CHAPTER TWO THE VANISHING GLASS**

Harry paled when he heard the chapter title which did not go unnoticed by his friends or his teachers. _Probably going to hear all about how precious Harry Potter was pampered, _ thought Snape with a sneer.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursley's had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's' front door; it crept into their living**

**room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.**

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets **

"Different coloured bonnets?"Cried George whilst everyone one else was laughing.

**- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. **

"Where are you Harry?" Asked an inquisitive Hermione.

"I'm still there."

"Then why are there no photographs of you?" She asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and muttered "I used to break the cameras?"

Not surprisingly no one who heard him believed him.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

Snape flinched internally, he remembered that voice with far too much clarity.

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. **

**Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. **

"Wow Harry you must have really good hearing if you can hear your aunt in the kitchen from your bedroom." Said Lupin.

Harry again just shrugs his shoulders.

**He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"And a really good memory." Added Ron.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Harry did they make you cook?"

Again Harry just shrugged, he really didn't want to talk about his home life, fortunately Hermione saw this and backed off.

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

**Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? **

"Aww Potter are you so pampered that you don't care about your own cousins birthday."

Instead of getting angry Harry just asked "Hey Malfoy when is Tonks' birthday?"

"How the hell should I know?" Malfoy looked confused.

"Well she's your cousin." Shot back Harry, that shut Malfoy up.

**Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them **(Ron was shuddering, so Hermione held his hand)**, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, **(Harry braced himself for the outrage)** and that was where he slept.**

The hall went silent, it was deadly calm, and then it was as though a bomb had gone off and everyone started shouting. The teachers were in shock, none more so than Snape whose jaw had dropped in surprise. Harry just buried his head in his arms and ignored everyone, Lupin pulled Harry into his arms.

"It's okay cub, it's okay." He whispered in Harry's ear, holding the younger male tight to his chest. "It's okay."

Dumbledore and McGonagall finally managed to get everyone to settle down twenty minutes later, although it had taken more than half that time for McGonagall to get her own outrage under control but the calm only lasted a few minutes until Umbridge made the second biggest mistake of her life and said out loud (although not realising it).

"Good the nasty little lying freak deserved it, that's the way half breeds like him should be treated."

Everyone turned and stared at Umbridge, Madam Bones stood up and glared at her.

"Would you like to repeat what you just said because I'm sure I just heard the Under-secretary to the Minister for Magic not only condone child abuse but believe that all half-blood children should suffer the same. If that is the case then one must wonder if the Minister believes it is true."

Umbridge paled dramatically whilst Fudge shook his head emphatically.

"No, no I don't condone child abuse, but if my under-secretary does then I'm sorry but we will have to go our separate ways." Fudge turned to Umbridge "You've left me no choice Delores, as I am a progressive Minister (snorts could be heard throughout the hall but Fudge ignored them), you are fired."

"No! You cant fire me, who else is going to take the tough decisions to shut the brat up."

Dumbledore stood up. "What do you mean the 'tough decisions'?"

Umbridge didn't answer him.

"Delores answer the question" Fudge told her. Umbridge paled further but did as she was told.

"He just wouldn't shut up and You-Know-Who being back, no matter what the Prophet wrote so I ordered a couple of Dementors to shut him up permanently but that still didn't work so I have being using my special quill in his detentions to try and shut him up but it's not working."

Fudge almost fainted. "You sent Dementors after a fifteen year old child? Are you insane? And... and what is your special quill?"

Umbridge straightened her pink cardigan. "A blood quill."

Then Fudge really did faint. Madam Bones made her way over to Umbridge along with Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Delores Umbridge you are under arrest for attempted murder, abuse of your position and use of a class one Dark artefact against a minor." Madam Bones then read Umbridge her rights and placed magic-dampening handcuffs on her and sat her in the corner, everyone else in the room was silent and had been since Bones had first spoken.

Harry was buried in a hug from both Lupin and Molly Weasley, Madam Pomphrey woke Fudge back up and after a few minutes Dumbledore resumed reading.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated**

**exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

Everyone was still silent as they continued hearing about Harry's poor excuse for a childhood, although many were thinking of a way to get back at both his 'family' and Umbridge.

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursley's**

"No wonder he never asks any questions in class, I just thought he was being arrogant like his father." Snape muttered quietly but not quietly enough as McGonagall had overheard him.

"He is more like Lily than he is James." She muttered back.

Snape nodded, "Yes I believe I am beginning to see that." McGonagall gave him a small smile.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

Fred and George tired of the sombre mood and hoping to get the attention from Harry.

"Hey I think we should use that don't you agree Gred?"

"Of course I do, hey Harry..." said George

"Comb..." said Fred.

"Your..."Said George.

"Hair." They said together, causing a few people to chuckle and for it to break the mood, Molly goes to say something to the boys in disapproval but stops when she sees that people have stopped staring at Harry and so instead she smiles and mouths thank you to them, the boys are needless to say shocked.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.**

Harry finally pulls himself out of the hug and sits up, "Just like my dad's" Lupin ruffles his hair in response and Harry gives a small smile.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

The entire room burst out laughing.

"You've got your mothers wit Potter." Harry (and most of the room) looked up at Snape in shock, who sneers at everyone else.

"Thank you sir." Snape just nods his head in response.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

Malfoy stares in surprise, _I don't even get that much. _

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. **

"Good idea Harry, you've got to protect the bacon." All the Weasley's (except Percy), Harry and Hermione all rolled their eyes at Ron's response.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, pop-kin? Two more presents. Is that all right''**

"That's not how you raise a child" Exclaimed Molly and Madam Pomphrey at the same time much the gatherers amusement.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

"Oh dear Lord, he cant even count, how old is he Harry?" Inquired Hermione.

"Um a month older than me." Hermione almost faints to the Griffindor's entertainment.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"Isn't Mrs Figg Lucius Malfoy's squib aunt?" Asked McGonagall to Dumbledore who nodded back.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

Snuffles barked his agreement.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursley's often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

Snape looked over at Potter, _how could I have been so wrong?_

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?" **

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer). Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"No one ever believes me." Muttered Harry.

"You wont blow up the house but dad will." The twins said to everyone else's confusion. "Fourth book, if it's not in there then we'll tell you." They said in response to the looks they were getting.

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car..."**

"What is he a dog?"

"That's illegal."

"Those monsters."

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Spoilt brat" Was heard throughout the hall.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

Lupin growled, and Harry looked at him confused but he didn't say anything.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the**

**zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..''**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursley's he didn't make them happen. **

"Well now I know I did."

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day,**

**where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

Growls were heard throughout the hall.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

Lupin ruffled Harry's hair, "Your father's hair was the same."

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls)** (Ewwww)** - The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. **

"Did you apparate?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, it felt like I was being forced through a tight tube." Everyone stared at Harry again. "What?"

"How old were you?"

"Um I think I was seven."

"Whoa." was exclaimed throughout the room.

"What?" Harry looked bemused.

Hermione took pity on him. "Harry that's really advanced magic, you are really powerful."

"No I'm not." Three quarters of the room nodded in agreement with Hermione.

"Think about it this way, you've been up against Voldemort four times and survived..."

"But that was just luck."

"Once maybe but not four times."

"Then there was the basilisk you defeated."

"But if I didn't have the sorting hat or Fawkes I wouldn't have survived besides it was more physical not magical power that took it down, I stabbed it with a sword."

"What about third year? You took on over a hundred Dementors with a corporeal patronus."

"Lupin taught me that." Harry argued back.

"Yes Harry but you learnt in a few months, there are adult Aurors who cant cast a indistinct patronus let a lone a corporeal one."

Everyone could see that Harry really didn't believe that he was powerful.

"If that's true, why do I struggle so much with the practical work in class?"

Lupin looked thoughtful at that, he looked up at Dumbledore and when he saw that he wasn't looking back over he started to think of all the things he had heard about and how they didn't add up, _he wouldn't, would he?_

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursley's had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

"Uh oh, some-thing's going to go horribly wrong." Sang Ron. Harry once again buried his head in his hands.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**''I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"Yes they do" Shouted most of the room.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**''I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursley's hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon **(the twins grinned evilly and made the decision to get a hold of these cartoons and pinch the ideas and use them in pranks)** - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursley's bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they**

**watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

The hall erupted into laughter.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursley's so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo**

**restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Told you."

"Ron no one argued with you." said Hermione causing him to blush and everyone else to laugh.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick,**

**man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a**

**bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Snakes don't have eyelids so they cant blink." Then Hermione realised that it was probably Harry using Parseltongue.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time.''**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry**

**peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of**

**them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

Again people laughed.

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. **

There were growls in the hall.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"It was magic." Answered one of the Hufflepuffs.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you,**

**Harry?"**

There were groans and curses throughout the chamber.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals,"**

"They starved you?" Molly was almost in hysterics, "Oh you poor dear. You are never going back to them, even if we have to kidnap you away."

Harry gave her a small smile. "Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

Molly smiled back, "None of that dear, you are family. I may not be able to be your mother but perhaps you would like to call me Aunty Molly."

Harry gave her a grin. "I would like that very much."

**before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursley's were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

_No wonder he's so good at sneaking around, he's had years of practice._ Thought Snape.

**He'd lived with the Dursley's almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding**

**flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

"I remember more now." Harry muttered and those closest to him flinched at the tonelessness in his voice.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. **

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursley's were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Every member of the D.A and most of Griffindor, ravenclaw and hufflepuff stood up, turned to Harry and said together:

"I disagree with Dudley's gang."

Harry blushed and smiled at them all.

"That's the end of the chapter who would like to read next?"

"I will Headmaster." Said McGonagall.

Madam Bones looked over at Harry. "But first I would like to speak to Mr. Potter," Harry nodded and Professor McGonagall led him, Madam Bones, Dumbledore and Fudge into the antechamber where Harry had gone in his fourth year, she immediately got down to business. "We have enough evidence to charge your family with child abuse and neglect if you would like us to proceed."

Harry shook his head. "They wont care, we are all a bunch of freaks to them and besides I don't want the Prophet getting the story."

Bones thought for a moment and smiled, "We could have them charged in a muggle court, the sentence wont be so harsh though."

Harry smiled at her, "Actually it would be worse because they like to think of themselves as fine upstanding members of the community and if you can get the story into the local papers then their reputations will be ruined."

Fudge interrupted. "So you are willing for muggle newspapers to run the story but not the Prophet, why is that?"

Harry blinks a few times. "Er because they are a corrupt, ministry-mouthpiece rag unworthy of the title newspaper, who has been slandering me since before the third task, whereas the muggle newspapers are mostly free from government interference?"

"Oh" With that eloquent statement Fudge walked out the room.

"Which ever court you take them to, you will still need to under go a medical examination. We can arrange for Madam Pomphrey to do it if it will make you more comfortable although she will be overseen by a ministry approved Healer to make sure that all the evidence is found." Harry nodded "Harry I must ask if your relatives ever hit you?"

Harry nodded once more, keeping his eyes downcast but before he could say anything he was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Unfortunate as Mr Potters childhood may have been, I can not allow him to leave the safety of the blood wards at his aunts house, which means that he will have to go back and his aunt cannot be prosecuted."

Madam Bones looked at Dumbledore in horror and she was not the only one.

"Unfortunate? Unfortunate? Albus you cannot be serious, they have abused Harry, neglected him, refused him the most basic of needs. You cannot send him back."

Dumbledore turned and looked at McGonagall.

"I am sorry Minerva but the blood wards are too important."

Harry was furious, he didn't want to go back. "Sir I don't think that the blood wards work any more any way, Voldemort used my blood to rebuild his body. Wouldn't he be able to just walk through the wards any time he wants too? I don't see how they protect me any more. Couldn't we just use the Fidelius Charm instead in a home where there are Adult witches and/or wizards."

"Ah but Harry you remember what happened when your parents used the Fidelius Charm, I'm afraid that I will not put you at risk."

McGonagall glared at Dumbledore, _how dare that old man use Lily and James against Harry, who does he think he is?_

"That's bullshit and you know it old man, there are a lot of differences between me and my parents, for one thing I don't have any friends who will shop me into Voldemort. Hermione read up on the Fidelius Charm in our third year, it said that who ever the secret keeper is must willingly give up the location but if who ever becomes my secret keeper takes an unbreakable vow not to give out my address to Voldemort or any death eaters willingly than we wont have a problem. We just need someone trustworthy."

Madam Bones and McGonagall were impressed, Dumbledore on the other hand was pissed but he wouldn't let it show lest all his plans become forfeit.

"Harry I would be willing to become your secret keeper, if this was the path taken."

Harry smiled at McGonagall. "Thank you professor."

Dumbledore coughed slightly and the three other people in the room looked back at him.

"In that case then we will need to find you somewhere to stay for the entire holidays."

"I'll ask Mrs. Weasley."

"Very well then."

With that all four left the antechamber and went back into the hall, harry headed straight over to his friends and sat down between Molly and Lupin, at his friends expectant looks he mouthed 'later' and they nodded.

McGonagall cleared her throat and all attention turned to her, "The next chapter is called **LETTERS FROM NO ONE**."

End of chapter

A/N: Please read and review.

Sailor Sayuri: Thank you for you review, and I gratefully accept the chocolate frogs (grabs them with both hands and runs away lol, I'm worse then lupin when it comes to chocolate, I hope you liked this chapter as much as the first although there is not much Snarry yet.

Reaping-Vampire: I know so here's another chapter, hope you like it.

Grimm: Me too, there are a couple that do but unfortunately they are either heavy on the Snape bashing (which I don't like) or a Dark winning story. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Pikachu79: I know what you mean, cannon pairings are so last year lol (and I really don't like Ginny). Enjoy.

Keena3105: I said every few weeks because I am working on two other stories at the same time although one is currently on hiatus until I can get my muse back for it, I will try and update sooner I promise. Snape and Harry will get together probably around the fourth book, I'm not a hundred percent sure yet though, although neither will do more than kissing and hand holding before harry is 16.

Rae horton: I'm glad you decided to try mine out and I hope it lives up to expectations.

Honksfan4life: Thank you, I hope you like this chapter too.

Kneeya: I know exactly how you feel, it's so disappointing but we can only hope that one day they will come back and finish their versions. As a writer I know all to well what happens when you lose interest or your muse for a piece of your own writing. I hope I will not become one of those thousands that will never complete their stories but life is a fickle friend and you don't know what will happen in the future.

Guest: I gather you liked it then? Lol.


	3. Chapter 3

Hogwarts: The Truth

Chapter 3

"**LETTERS FROM NO ONE"** read McGonagall as Harry buried his head in his hands.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. **

**By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started **

"Harry how long were you locked up for? When is Dudley's birthday?" Asked Hermione.

"His birthday is the 15th of June." Harry muttered but unfortunately for him, the entire hall heard him.

"They locked you up for over a month? What about school?" Hermione was horrified, as was most of the Great Hall.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and looked at her. "They normally told the school that I was either playing truant or I was ill, most of the teachers believed them, after all the Dursley's can do no wrong and I already had missed so much school already so they didn't really pay much attention." Seeing the look on her face, he tried (and failed) to cheer her up. "It's alright Hermione, it was a long time ago."

"No Harry, it's not alright, they shouldn't have treated you so bad."

"It's fine 'Mione, I'm used to it and besides I've been through worse." Needless to say that did not make anyone feel better about Harry's upbringing. McGonagall took pity on him and continued to read and Harry reburied his head in his hands.

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

_'What a brat'_ was a common throughout the hall.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Snape flinched but luckily for him no one noticed.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smelting's. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"Why?" Asked Malfoy

Harry looked up at him. "You'll see."

Malfoy scowled in response.

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"It took him three weeks to work out what I had meant, boy was he mad." Harry laughed causing the people who heard him to join in.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smelting's uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though**

**she'd had it for several years.**

Remus looked horrified at that and everyone who knew about his obsession with chocolate laughed at the look on his face.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smelting's' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"How?" Asked one of the pure-bloods, no one seemed to have an answer for them.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to**

**laugh.**

The people in the hall had no compunctions and laughed quite loudly.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

McGonagall's lips thinned as well but for the opposite reason, how could they have all missed the signs, she sighed inaudibly and continued the reading.

**"Your new school uniform," she said. Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Mr Potter I do not believe that Petunia has the intelligence to understand sarcasm."

Harry laughed and looked up at Snape. "You are right sir but I'm hopeful that one day my rapier wit will be recognised for the brilliance that it is."

Snape just snorted in response, the rest of the room was in silence. They had never seen Harry speak to Snape with respect nor had they expected Snape to speak civilly to Harry. Only one person was upset at the exchange and they were inwardly seething at the thought of one more of their plans failing.

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"I doubt that." Said Lavender Brown and Pavarati Patil agreed with her.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"How come you are no this funny at school?" Asked the Weasley twins.

"I am, it just obviously goes straight over your heads." Harry smirked and said sarcastically.

"Burned." Said Ron. The twins fell off their chairs in pretend shock.

"Oh how could you Harry..." Said Fred.

"You are like a little brother to us." Said George.

Everyone laughed at the twins antics. Harry just smiled.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

People in the hall looked up surprised that Dursley was making his son do something, one of the muggleborn's stood up and shouted:

"He's making his son do something? The end of the world has come." And then pretended to faint, the muggleborn's and some of the half-bloods starting laughing, McGonagall's lips twitched in amusement.

**"Make Harry get it."**

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

The muggleborn got up off the ground and looked around the room. "It's alright, the crisis has been averted." And more peals of laughter followed.

**"Make Dudley get it."**

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"How dare he." Cried Molly who was shaking in fury, Mr Weasley placed a gentle hand on her arm and tried to calm her down.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was holidaying on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Harry.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? **

"I wrote to you Harry." exclaimed most of the hall, much to Harry's embarrassment.

**He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

McGonagall was furious, she turned at looked at Dumbledore in absolute hatred. "You knew, you knew and did nothing about it. You check the envelopes every year, to make sure that something like this never happens. How could you?"

Everyone paled, none more so than Harry and his friends, how could Dumbledore do this? He was supposed to be the leader of the light, How could a good person let any child suffer the way Harry has?

"It was for the Greater Good."

SMACK, McGonagall slapped him so hard his glasses flew off his face. "How is allowing a child to be abused for the 'Greater Good'?" She demanded with a sneer that rivalled Snape's best (or worst depending on how you look at it) one, but Dumbledore didn't answer. Remus had to be held back by both Charlie and Bill Weasley in order to stop him from releasing Mooney on the Headmaster, all the students who knew he was a werewolf began to panic, until Harry grabbed his hand and Remus regained control. Remus was furious but he calmed down and pulled Harry into a hug.

"Oh cub, I am so sorry. I never should have believed him. He said you were safe and loved and I believed him. I am so sorry."

It took McGonagall half an hour to calm down before she could continue reading.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

The Muggle studies professor continued scribbling down all the muggle items, ignoring the disturbances in the reading for fear of attacking the headmaster.

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

The hall was still in shock, not even the Weasley twins tried to crack a joke.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -."**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.**

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"**

People shook their heads at the Dursley's response to Harry's letter.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

Most of the students in the room flinched when they thought about the reactions they would have gotten for daring to attack their parents.

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. **

"**I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

Harry's friends gave a small smile knowing all about Harry's temper.

**''I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

Remus smiled at Harry, "It would appear that you have inherited Lily's temper." Snuffles nodded as though to agree which caught Madam Bones' attention. The room gradually started to become less tense although the vast majority were still throwing dark looks at Dumbledore. If looks could kill, he would be a little pile of ashes on the floor from the intensity of the glares.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"Why should he get to see it?" Asked Lee Jordan.

"Because if I have something, no matter how small or worthless it may be, he still wants it."

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at**

**the crack between door and floor.**

"Excellent instincts, boy. You will make a good Auror." Said Moody. Harry flinched at the word boy which did not go unnoticed but was nonetheless pleased at Moody's statement.

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

**"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

Malfoy scoffed but didn't say anything.

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything...''**

**"But -"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

Snape flinched internally remembering how his father had attempted to stamp out his magic, luckily it didn't work otherwise he would be insane. Snape looked over at Harry, they were only on the third chapter and already his world had been turned upside down, he just hoped that there was no other mention of physical abuse, he wasn't sure that he could handle it. _ Oh Lily forgive me for being so wrong about your son._

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

There were growls at the mention of the cupboard.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

There were gasps of horror at that admission, Madam Bones had started a list in the last chapter of all the abuse and crimes that the Dursley's had committed, and with Harry's consent for a criminal trial in the muggle world she continued to note down all the evidence that could be used.

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

'Good' thought Remus.

**"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.''**

"Second bedroom" Growled McGonagall, showing why she was the head of Griffindor house for she looked very much like a lioness in that moment.

**"Why?" said Harry.**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley's' house had four **bedrooms (Again growls swept through the room):** one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.**

Snuffles and Molly thought together about how they were going to spoil Harry come his next birthday, it really was disturbing how a like they thought.

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbour's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. **More scratching from the muggle studies professor as she quickly wrote down all the items)** Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Harry smiled, those books had been a god send during the summer before his second year.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, ''I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.**

'_Actually the way I found out was better than opening the letter in the hallway._'

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –'"**

"I thought he wanted to read it?" Asked Dean Thomas.

"He did" Replied Harry "But he can only just read aloud, he hasn't quite got to the point of silent reading yet."

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. **

Harry looked at his friends. "See what I did was natural, after all I did have practice."

Hermione and Ron snorted in unison, everyone else just looked confused.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard –** (more growls filled the room)** I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Uh oh." Sighed Ron.

Harry just shrugged, his luck and plans only went his ways in life or death situations and he wasn't going to bring that up in front of Sirius and Remus.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursley's He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and**

**get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door – **

**'AAAAARRRGH'**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive!**

"Please be the whale, please be the whale" Chanted the Griffindor's.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. **

Everyone cheered.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**''I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"That evil bastard." The Weasley's were shocked they had never heard their mother use bad language before.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"No we wont." Said McGonagall interrupting her own reading.

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"Listen to Tuney, you fat oaf, she knows about witches and wizards." Snape said.

"Sir, how do you know Aunt Petunia?"

Snape sighed, he didn't want to but he answered the question. "Because Mr Potter, I grew up with your mother, she was my first friend. I was the one to tell her about being a witch."

Harry smiled at Snape, it was the first time in a long while since someone had given him a sincere smile, _Since Lily_.

"Would you be willing to tell me about my mother? I don't know that much about her."

Snape nodded had and Harry smiled at him again.

"Thank you sir."

McGonagall cleared her throat and blinked away tears that threatened to fall and continued reading.

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"Thank Merlin for that." Muttered half the hall.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"He's as crazy as Mad-Eye." Murmured Tonks, who was far enough away from the paranoid ex-auror not to be heard.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Me" Called out half the hall to Harry's embarrassment.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today –"**

"Why is that?" Wondered Daphne Greengrass, a fifth year Slytherin.

"Because Muggles have their letters delivered by people and they have Sunday as a day off." Answered Hermione.

"Thank you, that makes sense."

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursley's ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Why didn't you pick one up off the floor?" Inquired Malfoy with his lack of malice which was picked up by everyone in the hall.

_Perhaps there is hope that he will not become a death eater after all._ Thought Snape.

Harry shrugged. "I was training to be a seeker?"

Amazingly no one believed him especially when he buried hid head in his hands again.

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **(The room fills with the rumble of angry witches and wizards)** When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. ''I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the motorway.**

**Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"What an idiot." Said Seamus Finnegan, Harry just ignored him.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. **(Madam Pomphrey and Molly Weasley were shaking their heads in disbelief, McGonagall's lips had almost disappeared they were so thin)** By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and**

**wondering...**

"Wondering what Harry?" Asked Cho Chang, trying to get him to look at her. She wasn't happy that he had been ignoring her. She became angry when he didn't answer.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"Why? She should have seen that something was wrong."

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**''Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **(the entire room nodded agreeing with Dudley) **Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled. **Snape flinched.

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television. "**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television **

Everyone laughed.

**- then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursley's had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks** (Lots more people began to spoil Harry on his next birthday)**. Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

"This man belongs in an asylum, he's freaking insane." Said Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Language Mr Finch-Fletchley"

"Sorry Professor."

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing-boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. **

"They're not rations, has this man totally lost his mind?" Madam Pomphrey was stunned, she looked over at Harry who was once again buried in his arms. _This must be so hard for him, everyone now knows about his home-life, no one will look at him the same except for his friends. I will definitely have to run a diagnostic scan on him and I will need Severus' help, thank Merlin they are getting on better._

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Bastard." Muttered Ron quiet enough that his mother didn't hear him.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Harry was shocked when a blanket was conjured by Molly Weasley and wrapped around him.

"I'm alright now Mrs Weas-" He stopped at Molly's glare "Aunt Molly" It still didn't placate her.

"Harry just go with it." Harry looked at Remus and nodded and Molly relaxed.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursley's would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"I was in bed, I had given up on you receiving a letter and so told Professor Dumbledore and he told me would take care of it."

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"You are such a pessimist Harry." Hermione said with a shake of her head, Harry gave a smile.

"You've read about my life, isn't it understandable?" She nodded and gave him a smile.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. **

**Thirty seconds... **

**twenty ... **

**ten...**

**nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him - **

"Do it... Do it..." Chanted Fred and George.

"You know you want to." Said Lee Jordan.

**three... **

**two...**

**one...**

**BOOM.**

McGonagall shouted the onomatopoeia.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who was it?" Asked an inquisitive first year Hufflepuff

"You'll see." The entire hall groaned.

"Who will read next?" Asked McGonagall.

"I will." Said Theodore Nott. McGonagall levitated the book over to him and Theo grabbed it with both hands.

But before he could start reading Madam Pomphrey interrupted.

"I need to see Mr Potter before the beginning of this chapter with Severus and I believe it would be a good idea to have lunch."

End of Chapter

Flying Chrissy- Now Muhahaha, lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Crimson Moon Dragon- Harry is going to become more assertive as the books go on and become a total badass.

Mulikkkkkk- Thank you, I have no plans to abandon this story and will continue to update when I can.

Nobody- Nope, he's gonna be totally evil lol.

Honksfan4life- Thank you I will.

Desperately in love with you- Thank you here's more

Miss Kakashi- Thank you.

Ananas- I know it is so frustrating. I've got like fifty of these type of stories on my alerts and they haven't been updated in a long time. I'm going to try not to rush the Snarry, there will be more interaction in the next chapter between them though.

Mika Whygt- Thank you I'm glad you liked it.

Reaping-Vampire- Yes I'll go through every chapter, this will be a very long fic.


	4. Chapter 4

Hogwarts: The Truth

A/N: Apologises for the wait, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4

Madam Pomphrey and Snape got up out of their seats and walked into the antechamber, Harry also got up but before he can leave he is stopped by Hermione.

"Do you want us to come with you?"

"No I'll be alright 'Mione."

"Alright, let us know what happens."

Harry nodded his head and made his way to the antechamber, to find that it had changed a bit since he was last in here. There was now a scaled down replica of the Hogwarts infirmary, with all the necessary potions and equipment that might be needed, including a hospital bed. He saw madam Pomphrey and Professor Snape standing by the bed, madam pomphrey smiled when Harry entered and gestured him over to the bed, Snape never said anything but he didn't glare either so Harry thought that maybe Snape no longer hated him or at least not as much as he did previously.

"Well come in Mr Potter and sit on the bed."

Harry did as he was told.

"Now you are probably wondering why this wasn't done before?" Harry nodded confusion written across his face. "Well I'm sorry to say that it is my fault and I apologise most fervently. Normally I check over every student that comes through these halls and unfortunately you slipped through the cracks. You were in here so often in your first year that I believed that I had already done your check up. There is nothing I can do to make up for my mistake and I do not ask for your forgiveness."

"It's okay, these things happen and besides it's not like I went to you either."

Madam Pomphrey smiled at him.

"Right, well if you don't mind I would like to get started." At Harry's nod she began to scan him with her wand.

Meanwhile in the great hall Harry's friends and family wonder what is going on in the antechamber, whilst they are waiting for Harry to come out the house elves provide the hall with lunch. They dig in not knowing how long Harry will be, just over an hour later Madam Pomphrey left the antechamber. She informed Harry's friends that he is okay but that he will be tired when he comes out, she walked over to Madam Bones and handed her a sheaf of parchment with a scowl on her face before she made her way back to her seat, she didn't talk to anyone else and only glared at Dumbledore. Madam Bones took a quick look at what she was given and her face paled dramatically.

It is more than fifteen minutes later when Snape and Harry come out the room, Harry looked dead on his feet and Snape had to lead him to his seat. Lupin had to take Harry off of his hands before Snape made his way back to the head table. Harry managed to eat a few bites of food before he fell completely asleep curled up on the bench with his head in Lupin's lap. If anyone could see the concern that Snape showed to Harry, no one mentioned it.

"Mr Nott if you would start reading please." Said Professor McGonagall.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS**

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

He bought a gun? Is he insane? What the hell is wrong with your family?" Asked Hermione, before she realised that Harry was fast asleep in Lupin's arms.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

Most of the pure-bloods looked confused at that sentence until Professor Burbage explained the meaning.

**There was a pause. Then -SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost**

**completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"Way to make Hagrid sound dangerous."

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

Most of the teachers shook their heads 'only Hagrid'.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**''I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Thank Merlin that's gone" Muttered Hermione.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursley's, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid you are not to drink in front of children." Scolded McGonagall, Hagrid blushed.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. **

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

Everyone laughed, Harry stirred slightly but went back to sleep as Hermione hissed at everyone to keep their voices down.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.''**

**"Er - no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"Why would he apologise?" Asked one naïve first year.

"Because unfortunately abused children often are told that everything is their fault and start to believe it." Replied Madam Bones.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursley's, who shrank back into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"**

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

Harry woke up at this point to Madam Pomphrey's dismay. He sat up and looked at Lupin.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not long cub only a few minutes."

Harry yawned and stretched. "Oh, okay. Thought it was longer."

Nott carried on reading.

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursley's were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursley's, "that this boy – this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff." But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, **

**"About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like- "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"You didn't ask why you were famous, only asked about your parents?" Asked Malfoy, Harry just shrugged in response.

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yet a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut **(and throughout the hall until everyone started laughing)**. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry. **(More laughter)

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That was your first question?" Asked a Pure-blood slytherin.

"That was your letter?" Asked one of the muggleborn ravenclaws.

Harry looked confused. "What was the difference between mine and yours?"

"Well mine gave that information but it didn't mention anything about owls and said that a representative from the school would be a long to explain the letter and anything we needed to know.

"Oh," Harry looked up at the teachers table. "Why was my letter different?"

McGonagall answered him. "Well you see mister Potter, we believed that you would have grown up knowing about magic (even if your relatives are the worst sort of Muggles) and so was sent the standard letter we send to all children from a magical background."

Harry just nodded in response.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment.**

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.**

**Hagrid**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"Still are, I've yet to meet bigger" Said Hagrid to the amusement of the students.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

Dumbledore paled dramatically 'It wasn't like Ariana, please tell me it wasn't that bad'.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!**

"Lily was not a freak, she was the kindest, sweetest woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet." Everybody (except those who had known Snape and Lily in school) looked at Snape in shock. Malfoy looked at Snape in shock and a little horror.

"You defended a mudblood."

Snape snarled and looked back at Malfoy with his most terrifying glare. "Do not ever use that word in front of me again."

Narcissa slapped the back of Malfoy's head. "Just because your father uses that sort of disgusting words does not mean that you should copy him. And I was friends with Lily too at school, Lily was the sweetest, kindest woman although she had a hell of a temper on her."

Everyone who had known Lily smirked they remembered quite clearly that temper. Malfoy kept his mouth shut, his mother had never berated him like that before, he still did not know what to think about his Godfather being best friends with a mudblood.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

Harry ignored the pitying and sad looks he was given by most of the students, whilst the teachers and the rest of the adults (apart from Fudge and Auror Dawlish) started berating Dumbledore.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursley's scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone 3 s gotta - yeh can't go off ter**

**Hogwarts not knowin'."He threw a dirty look at the Dursley's. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

Everyone leaned in closer, they too were interested in knowing what happened that night.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –"**

**"Who? "**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

Fred turned to George. "Five Galleons Harry can get Hagrid to say You-Know-Who's name."

George shook his head. "I'm sorry dear brother but I have learnt never to bet against harry, if anyone can do the impossible it's him."

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. "**

"See" said George.

**Hagrid shuddered **(as did most of the room)**. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. "Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn **(much like he did now).

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway..."**

Most of the adults nodded, agreeing with Hagrid.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the**

**Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

Almost everyone bowed their heads in respect for those who lost their lives (there were a few death eater's children who did not, and not all of them were slytherin).

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel**

**laugh.**

People gasped, Ron glanced at Harry "You remembered that much?"

"I remember it all since third year." This time everyone heard what Harry said and more people gasped, some looked at Harry with tears in their eyes. Snape was shocked and more than a little bit horrified, no one should have to remember their parents last moments especially not Lily's son.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursley's were **there (as had most of the hall).** Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **(Lupin and snuffles started growling)** - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion – asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types -just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end –" **(more growls).

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"You didn't say his name at one point?" Asked Astoria Greengrass

"It's not like I was scared to say his name, it just gets tiring listening to all the gasps and squeals at the mention of his name, Grindelwald killed at lot more people then Voldemort ever has and no one flinches when they say his name. It's actually ridiculous that everyone is so scared of his name as it just gives him more power over you. Besides it didn't last long, fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself."

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough**

**human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don~ reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno**

**what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

Several people shook their heads.

"It doesnt work like that Harry." Lupin states. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"I know that now."

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him? Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"Unfortunately" muttered Harry.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and –"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Uh oh, now he's done it."

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, **

**"NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE IN-FRONT- OF- ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

The hall burst out into howls of laughter.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff**

**- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job.''**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"Five galleons Harry finds out why Hagrid gets expelled." Said Fred and George together. All the Griffindor's agree and bet for harry finding out, whereas the other three houses bet against, the teachers pretend not to notice.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

"End of the chapter." Said Nott.

"Thank you Mr Nott, who will read next?" Asked McGonagall.

Lupin puts his hand up and McGonagall levitates the book over to him, Lupin turns the page to the fifth chapter "**Diagon Alley**"

End of Chapter

A/N: Please read and review.

Animelv16- Thank you, I'm glad you find it interesting.

The Darkening/Mattcun- I will continue this story, I am not going to stop writing it until it is finished.

LightNShadows- Thank you, it's all for the 'greater good' don't you know? We will find out Dumbledore's reasoning later (near the end of the second book). With Malfoy and harry I think that they might make a truce but Malfoy would have to grow up a bit first for it to work. And for your final point Harry is not going to like it, that's for sure.

InuhanyLover/Loretta537/Johanni93- Thank you

Vampireeriuke- She may have found the soul bond, there again she may not have, I might use your other idea later.

Team Major Whitlock- Thank you, I sent you a pm.

LM Ryder- I think that I might just pinch that idea lol. Thank you.

Dragonfire10514- Thank you, I will try. I'm glad, all writers like to be a bit different.

Guest- I will.

Erurie/GalynSolo- Thank you, I hope you continue to like the story.

Bootsrcool- Here's moar lol, thanks for reviewing.

My Alternate Reality- Thats explained in chapter 4, and for your other point, the answer is lots.

Sailor Sayuri- lol, I'm glad you like it, there will be more Snarry interactions later *I pinch all the chocolate frogs (MuHaHaHa)*, Thank you for the luck I'm gonna need it.

Miss Kakashi- I hope you like the next chapter.

Reaping Vampire- The Snarry will take a while as they have only just stopped hating each other.

Nobody- I'm happy you like it.

Goddess Alexandria- There will be more Dumbledore bashing (I always thought that he was a manipulating old coot) but I hope you will continue to read it.

Mika Wyght- I don't know whether I will make any differences, I doubt I will at the moment, I hope you continue to be pumped for this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I am so so so sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I cant believe that it has been three months since I last updated this story but unfortunately I have been dealing with a few health problems as well as trying to start my own original piece of fiction. Again I am so sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 5

Lupin smiled happy to read about his cubs first day trip to Diagon Alley, Umbridge was fuming in the corner where she had stayed since being arrested, _once they all know what a horrid little liar he is they'll drop the charges against me quickly, after all I am a pure-blood._

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. "It was a dream, he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

"Oh Harry you poor dear." Molly was almost in tears thinking about how her poor son (and he was the son of her heart) was so unused to good things happening to him that he couldn't believe that actually happened.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. 'And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door,' Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

**"Don't do that."**

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"It clearly wants paying." Scoffed Malfoy, Harry just rolled his eyes.

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl''**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"Well he isn't going to know what to do, he's muggle-raised." Said a fourth year slytherin. The slytherin's look at him in confusion. "What?" He asked, the others just shake their heads. Malfoy blushed slightly at the realisation.

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

**"Knuts?"**

"Hagrid," Sighed McGonagall "How was he supposed to know about the money?"

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

**"Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

**"Um - Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

"Of course they do. Where have you been living under a rock?" Asked Malfoy with a sneer.

"No just in a cupboard in the muggle world." Replied Harry with a fair amount of sarcasm surprising everyone who didn't know him that well but none more so than the king of sarcasm Severus Snape.

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

**"Goblins?"**

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts**

**business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts – knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying** (As were most of the hall)**.**

"How did you get there Hagrid?" Asked Ron, as he couldn't see anyway for Hagrid to fly there.

"On a Threstral." Replied Hagrid with a blush

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, O'course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"I do not." Fudge shouted livid, _How dare they besmirch my name, _to the amusement of some of the room.

"Actually at this point in time you did Cornelius." Said Dumbledore benignly causing a few people to laugh. Fudge went red with rage but did not say anything further.

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbour wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street. Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like**

**parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

The muggleborn's shook their head in amusement.

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets. People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

**First-year students will require:**

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear** (why? They don't even where them that often.)

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**wand **

**cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set**

**glass or crystal phials**

**telescope set**

**brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"Unless of course your name is Prince Potter." Sneered Malfoy.

"It's your fault Malfoy." Retorted Harry.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humour, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The**

**low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honour."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

"And so it begins." Harry sighed and put his head in his hands.

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again –**

**Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

The Golden Trio snarled quietly at Quirrell, Lupin looked at them in surprise as he was the only one to hear them. Harry leaned in to his ear.

"He was a lousy teacher." Lupin nodded and kept on reading. Meanwhile over at the teachers table Snape felt a sudden inexplicable jolt of jealously as he watched Harry lean into the wolf.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires,**

**m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

Lupin interrupted himself to ask: "That was who taught you in your first year?"

The fifth years and above nodded.

"Like I said he was a lousy teacher. It's a shame you cant come back and teach."

Again Fudge interrupted. "As a werewolf he is not allowed to teach."

Harry just imitated Mooney and snarled. "He's the best teacher we have ever had and he is only a werewolf one night a month. It's not his fault he was infected, lycanthropy is a disease much like cancer and dragon pox, maybe you should have some one look into finding a cure for it and treat the victims."

"What about werewolves like Greyback?" Asked Fudge in an attempt to get around Harry's argument.

"Easy the same way you would treat other murderers and rapists, actually maybe not considering the amount that bought their way out of prison so maybe I should say you should treat them like the muggle world does and lock them up, preferably for the rest of their lives." Most of the room cheered at Harry who turned away from Fudge and looked back at Lupin. "Keep reading."

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first hand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

**"Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a**

**cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

Snape looked surprised that Harry even noticed them.

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're**

**mad..."**

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -" **

"Such a good broomstick." Harry sighed in remembrance of his first broom. Snuffles barked as though in agreement causing Amelia to look over at them in suspicion.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was -**

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved**

**upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take, but do not earn,**

**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned, beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.**

**There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as**

**glowing coals.**

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the YouKnow-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

"That was so much fun. It was awesome."

"I believe Mr Potter that you would be called a speed demon." Harry just smiled impishly at Snape and again there was shock at the civility between both men.

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge**

**stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

**''I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. **

"Harry you do realise that that vault is just for your school years and you will have access to the family vault when you turn of age don't you?" Asked Lupin, when harry shook his head shocked he growled in frustration and turned angrily to Dumbledore. "You scheming old bastard how dare you, you told me and the others that Harry already knew about the vaults and his duties as a Lord of the realm."

Harry looked completely confused at this point. "Wait what do you mean when you say I'm a lord of the realm?"

There was instant outrage from all across the room, how could the last Potter not understand their role in the wizarding world?

Augusta Longbottom (who was sat next to her grandson) was utterly furious with Dumbledore. "It's a jolly good thing that you are no longer the Chief Warlock, how could you not inform the young Lord Potter of his duties? It is absolutely unconscionable." The formidable matriarch then turned her attention to the young Lord. "I would be honoured Lord Potter if you would permit me to teach you all you will need to know about being a Lord in the wizarding world."

"Uh thank you Lady Longbottom, I too would be honoured."

Lupin coughed a couple of times to get everyone's attention and then started reading again.

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and**

**pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook. "How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin. Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask. **

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." **

**He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, clear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact. "**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting**

**me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

Malfoy stood up furious. "How dare you Potter I am nothing like that muggle filth."

Harry stood up as well "Yes Malfoy you are, you are both bigoted, you against Muggles and him against magicals. You are both selfish and spiteful, you both continually rub your wealth in the faces of those less well off than you. You are both cruel bullies who pick on those who are younger and less powerful than you and finally you both run to your father whenever something goes wrong or if someone stands up to you. You are almost identical."

Harry sat down but Malfoy stayed standing, absolutely shocked and with his mouth gaping or at least he did until his mother pulled him back down onto the bench.

"He is correct my Dragon, your behaviour is appalling and it is not how I raised you."

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"Thanks Harry."

"No problem Hagrid." Beamed Harry causing Snape to have an unfamiliar pang in his stomach.

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

**"Oh, sorry," said the other,. not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pate boy in Madam Malkin's.**

**"-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line O' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but –"**

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible**

**smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red.**

**"You don't have to -"**

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell. **

Again the Golden trio growled, the people around them looked confused but didn't say anything about it.

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that**

**had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

**"And that's where..." Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a**

**long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Of course you don't use them Hagrid." Said Fred and George to the amusement of everyone else.

"Hey Hagrid, have you been to collect a new wand yet?" Asked Harry, when Hagrid shook his head Harry frowned. "You really should, I think the teachers wouldn't mind catching you up."

At this the teachers nodded in response but before they could say anything they were interrupted by Fudge. "Perhaps you are forgetting that Mr Hagrid (here he sneered, he really was a racist bastard) was expelled in his third year."

Harry smiled brightly (_he really does have a nice smile_ thought Snape _wait a minute where the hell did that come from?_) "Oh of course minister but it has since been proven that Hagrid had been framed." At the confused look on both Fudge's and Amelia Bones' face he turned to Dumbledore. "Sir why didn't you inform the ministry after my second year that Hagrid was innocent?"

"I do not believe that this is the time, and after all the second book will be able to hopefully explain what had happened in greater detail."

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try –" Harry tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander. "No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination – holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "**

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious.."**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

_Oh shit _thought Harry _Everyone's going to find out about our wands, shit, shit, shit._

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."**

There was silence throughout the room. Then one idiotic Hufflepuff asked:

"Hey does this mean you are going to become a Dark Lord just like you-Know-Who?"

Which caused Ron to turn and glare at the imbecile. "What the hell..."

"Ron don't use bad language."

Ron looked at Molly and blushed.

"Sorry mum." He looked back at the Hufflepuff. "What makes you think that Harry will go dark? Just cause they share the same core doesn't mean Harry is suddenly go evil, he's not that kind of guy. Idiot. And besides it saved his life."

Then Ron sat back down still blushing furiously, he became even more red when Hermione gave him a kiss on the cheek much to everyone else's entertainment.

**Harry swallowed.**

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow. "You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. "Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross**

**- it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"I believe that it is now time for dinner." Dumbledore waved his hands and the tables became laden with food, no one seemed impressed at the display with rankled somewhat with Dumbledore.

Narcissa Malfoy arose gracefully from the Slytherin table and slowly made her way to the Griffindor table, by the time she had reached the table almost every eye was upon her.

"Mr Potter may I have a word?" At Harry's nod she began to apologise in a voice that carried across the hall. "I am so terribly sorry for the disgusting way my son spoke to you, I can assure that I did not raise him to be this way unfortunately he seems to worship the ground Lucius walks on and has copied his behaviour."

Harry smiled at her. "It is quite alright ma'am it is not your fault, I am not in the habit of blaming someone for someone else's mistakes or behaviour and so I do not blame you."

"Unless you are blaming yourself that is." Muttered Ron to Hermione who smiled at him.

"Thank you Mr Potter."

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Narcissa smiled at him and lowered her voice. "Actually if there is one thing you could do I would be forever in your debt. I wish to speak to Lord Black, if at some point you meet him could you ask him to owl me, it is very important."

Her eyes flicked to snuffles and Harry nodded in response.

"Thank you Mr Potter." She smiled at him again and made her way back over to the Slytherin table.

End of Chapter.


End file.
